One By One, 'Til We Reach the Top
by Hatake Kai
Summary: Prompt Fic. Robin based stories, that interconnect to tell a story about the three Robins; Dick, Jason, and Tim. Starting with Jason meeting the team and moving onward, covering the years between seasons 1 and 2.
1. Gone

Dick watched the Zeta tube with a particularly nasty look. Well, it was nasty if you asked Wally, cause you could not read anything under the domino mask and white out lenses he had over his eyes. Wally, who has known Dick for longer than almost anyone else, worries for his friend who has not sat down in almost five hours.

A mess of nervous energy on a good day, Dick has gone from giving all the residents of the Base a morning briefing and prep talk (which if you ask M'gann was brilliantly delivered between bites of a Cocoa Puffs and Cheerios concoction) to a team workout. Wally had arrived with Artemis to see Conner falling to the ground with an exclamation that would make some villains blush as Dick maneuvered his body into some kind of contortionists' pretzel to pin the Krypton-Hybrid to the ground.

Apparently the word had come in via Red Tornado that Batman was bringing by the newest sidekick to go under the name Robin. Personally Wally had never worked with the boy, but the word on the street was that he was very different than Dick was as Robin. While Dick was a graceful, scary ninja; this new Robin was a smart, . Dick had worked with the new kid a few times that he was in Gotham, even had a few good things to say about the kid. This time however, it was like a sucker punch to the face if Wally ever saw one.

The Team was Dick's, the League seemed to be backing off more and more as time went by. To have Batman just come into his domain like this seemed to shake Dick in a way that no one has ever seen before. Instead of heading to the showers after the team workout, he moved to what was essentially his own area of the training room. It was one those unwritten laws of Mount Justice's residents. Like no one waking Conner up before six, unless there was something or someone to punch, or staying out of the kitchen when it was M'gann's turn to cook; the fact that when Dick was in a bad mood, it was better to stay out of his line of sight, was finely ingrained into the minds of his teammates.

Dick seemed to be in a constant motion until ten minutes ago, when he quickly showered and changed into his uniform. The team seemed to be stationed around the living room area and kitchen, most curious to see the new Robin and Dick's reactions. There was no denying the strained relationship between the former Dynamic Duo, but with the addition of a new sidekick and this intrusion bets were down on if there would be some kind of fight.

"Recognized, Batman Authorization Zero-Two. Recognized, Robin, Authorization A-Zero-8." The computer's voice and the lights of the Zeta Tubes brought Wally from his musings as two silhouetted figures appeared in the room. Batman's presence was as intimidating as every, a scowl on his face as the boy next to him watched the room with wide eyes. Again, with the domino mask and white out lenses, any eye movement or looks were blocked from view. Wally just liked to think of himself as a good reader when it came to those who wore them.

The new Robin, was taller than Dick was at the same age. There is more broadness in the new kid's shoulders as well, but a less gracefulness to his stride as he turned around to get a good view of the Cave. "Wow, it's bigger than the Batcave!" Wally heard him as he moved towards Dick, a spring in his step. "Hello, Nightwing." He said, keeping a few feet between the two as Batman moved closer.

Dick's face softened, though only a fraction. "Hello. Good to see you, Batman."

Batman nodded, "The League will be working in Cauracus for their peace negotiations."

Dick nods. "So you want the team to babysit while you're gone?" There's an edge to Dick's voice, like he knows something but does not want to say it.

"I want you to work with him." Batman replies, "His teamwork could use some work."

"I'm right here you know." Robin says, crosses his arms.

"Don't worry, Little Wing." Dick says before turning to Batman. "I'll make sure he's taken care of."

Batman nods, looking at Robin. "Listen to them Robin. I'll be back in a few days." With that, the Dark Knight is gone.

Dick puts his hand on Robin's shoulder, for the first time standing on even ground with him. Dick by no means was short, though definitely not the tallest of people, but his replacement was only a few inches shorter than him. "Let's introduce you to the team and get some lunch."


	2. Laugh

The explosion shook the ground where Robin and Artemis stood, fighting off the swarm of small mutated monkeys. The team had split up before the first swarm hit the look out team, leaving the two non-powered teens to fight alone. They were able to stop the monkeys by forcing them into a putty that Robin pulled from his utility belt, but had to largely abandon their look out position. The only knowledge they had of the team was what came through from Miss Martian's telepathy, everyone had checked periodically, but Robin had lost track of Nightwing's voice a few minutes ago.

"Is everyone all right?" Artemis asked as she dispatched the last of the monkey scourge.

There was a groan as Superboy's voice came through. "Me and M'gann are all right. The blast was inside the building, only one near there was Nighwing..."

Superboy's mental voice stopped as Robin broke position and ran to the building and where Superboy and Miss Martian. "Do you have a visual on Nightwing?" He called out mentally, still unused to this form of communication.

"His mind keeps coming in and out of my range." Miss Martian supplied and Robin saw her and Superboy go to the small building that was now missing a large chuck of it's left side.

The mission was supposed to be quick and easy. Infiltration of a rebel group's base to get documents stolen from the local government. No one was expecting to run into the type of technology needed to engineer attack monkeys, nor the use of explosives. Robin wondered if this was what mission were usually like for the Team when Superboy's voice came through the psychic link. "Found Nightwing. He is unconscious, but is breathing. M'gann, can you come get him out?"

"Of course." Miss Martian replied. Robin came into the clearing as Nightwing was being lifted off the ground.

Artemis caught up to him as he came to where Miss Martian and Superboy were, Nightwing floating in the air ramrod straight. "How is he?" Artemis asked, examining him after Miss M. put him at a reasonable height.

"He was knocked unconscious after the blast. I think he hit his head, but no bleeding was visible." Miss Martian replied as Artemis examined Nightwing for broken bones.

Robin watched as the team looked over Nightwing, half impressed and half cynical about the whole thing. Superboy seemed pretty useless to him, all brawn and no real powers. Just a cheap knock off of Superman, just without the powers to fly or X-ray vision.

"I can hear you, you know." A growl came through Robin's mind, making him glare at the Superboy.

The glare from Superboy held so much, Robin wanted to back down. That part of his brain seemed to have left the building as his mouth opened. "No less true though, is it?" He spoke aloud, his voice cracking slightly.

The look on Superboy's face went rigid and he took a step forward towards Robin, stopping only with Artemis and Miss Martian's voices tell them to stop. Superboy jumped off with a huff. "I'm going to get the Super Cycle."

Robin walked over to where the girls were looking over Nightwing. "Is he okay?" He asked, forgoing the telepathy.

"No broken bones, though this knot on his head is worrisome. Won't know more until we reach the Cave." Artemis supplied verbally. She moved so Robin could get closer to the other Bat-Protege. "You should be more considerate of Superboy. I'm sure he's not the only one with predecessor issue."

Robin looked at the older female and frowned. Sure he had issues about Dick, but that was not something he wanted to talk about. Particularly not ever, or with a person he had met the day before. "Yeah, sure. I'll be nicer to the 'Super'boy. Let's just make sure Pretty Boy here is okay before we have a grand Koombaiya moment, shall we?"

Miss Martian's voice giggled through the connection. "Pretty Boy? That's perfect for Nightwing! Why haven't I heard that before?"

"Cause he hates it, though he's such a spotted peacock that he'd probably die if no one noticed him for more than an hour." Robin replied, gently looking at the older boy's arm as he spoke. "You should see him around Bar... Batgirl. You'd think he was a regular show dog the way he tries to get her attention."

Before there was could be a reply, Superboy arrived with the Super Cycle. "She made room to lay Nightwing done in the back." He said as he landed the bike.

Robin climbed on, going to the area pointed out for Nightwing. "I'll sit back with him. I can take off his mask and check his pupils."

* * *

Back at the Cave, Nightwing finally regained consciousness. The team had brought him back and had him examined, with the diagnosis being a concussion along with a few bumps and bruises.

While the team was milling around, taking care of their own wounds or frustrations, Robin sat in a chair near the couch Nightwing was laying on. The team let the boy be, as most of them did not know him or want to be on the receiving end of his misplaced anger.

The young teen did mumble a bit, sometimes calling Nightwing a dick, which only Artemis knew was just his name (maybe), or telling him to wake up so he could kick his ass. The team just gathered that this version of Robin was more vocal of his anger and let him be.

Eventually Artemis came over with some gauze and ointment for Robin, dressing his wounds as she spoke. "His fine Robin. He's only been out for less than an hour, the computers said he'll wake up soon."

Robin huffed, pretending to not flinch from the sting of cut on his shoulder. "I know that. Dickhead just needs to wake up so I can yell at him for going in alone."

"You know as well as I do, if anyone else got hurt worst than him, he'd beat himself over it." Artemis replied, putting a band-aid on Robin's cheek.

"I know," Robin replied, "Him and The Boss-man are pretty much in agreement on that."

"You mean Batman?" Artemis asked, leaning back on her heels.

Robin nodded, "Yep." He seemed proud at that moment that he could say that. Artemis almost understood, she felt a similar emotion whenever she thought about Green Arrow still counting her as one of his proteges.

Smiling she ruffled Robin's hair. "You're all right kid. Different than Nightwing, obviously" There was a visible flinch from Robin, something Artemis knew she would want to know more about later. "But different isn't bad. You are you and he is he." Great when did she turn into the Advice-Giver?

"Yeah whatever." Robin replied as Artemis stood and walked back to the kitchen to put away the first aid kit.

There was a long moment of silence in the Cave as the Team made it way to sit on whatever furniture was open. The eyes on Nightwing seemed to alert him that he was needed. His eyes open right before his mouth. "There's a bomb!" He called out, his voice slightly weaken.

Everyone looked at the team leader as he rubbed his face. A groan escaped his lips as Robin almost fell over himself to stand over Nightwing. "Bit late there. Can see why the Boss-man wanted to replace you." There was a playful, happy tone to the boy's voice as he jumped away just before Nightwing's fist came at him.


	3. Sleep

"Dick." Jason said, shaking the older teen's shoulder. All he got in reply was a small sniffle, and Dick rolling away from Jason's hand. "Come on Dick!" Jason growled, getting on the bed and shaking Dick's shoulder again.

Jason was almost ready to call it a night and finally get some sleep after taking the first shift to watch over Dick. He really was a complete moron for even volunteering to watch his predecessor, the idiot was probably all right. The concussion was not too severe, though the team wanted to make sure that he was going to be okay. Jason was not used to sleeping until later in the night, so he had volunteered, saying he would wake up M'gann when it was Three A.M.

Of course, he never figured how boring and frustrating this job could be, even reading was dull by two A.M., and having to wake up Dick was like waking up a hibernating bear. Near impossible but when you succeeded, BAM!, you're dead and being slept on by a sleeping bear.

In the pass four hours, Jason has dodged five pillows, two batarangs, and a very awkwardly thrown bundle of Nightwing costume. That's not to mention the insults and threats spoken in at least three languages (one of which Jason had no clue if it was real) other than English. Overall, this was a terrible idea.

Now was the last hour mark before Jason could wake up the female Martian and get some sleep in the room he was staying in. Crawling over the bed, not necessarily worrying about being stealthy or quiet, Jason was pounced on by Dick who pinned him to the mattress.

Dick's eyes were deep, shining pools of blue going quickly to black as he looked at Jason. His breath was normal as he put his hand over Jason's mouth and started to speak. "Do that one more time and you'll wake up, in your underwear tied to a flag pole." His voice was heavy with sleep, like he would fall asleep right there. Like the hibernating bear.

"Whatever, Dickie-bird. I wasn't the one wanting to do this, your teammates decided to and I followed." Jason replied, pushing Dick off.

It must have been his tiredness, but Dick rolled to the side of Jason with little effort. Jason tried to get off the bed when he became trapped again, this time by Dick's arms hooking his left arm under his shoulders and holding his chest. "You aren't leaving. I know M'gann finishes the night... wanna..." Dick's voice trailed off, leaving Jason trapped on the bed.

* * *

M'gann woke slowly, stretching as she sat up in her bed. While she still wished that she had a window to look out of, she was content with her rest. Still a bit sore from their last mission, she winced as she got out of bed and left the room. The hall was queit, as it normally was whenever Miss Martian woke up for she required less sleep than her other teammates. Padding her way into the kitchen, she stopped instantly when she saw the clock. Seven-forty-five, the time read back to her, and she started to float quickly before running into someone.

Trying to untangle herself from the body of the person she had flown into, which she realized was Artemis, she heard a laughing voice. "What's the problem Miss M? Excited to see me and Artemis so early in the morning?"

"No, Wally." M'gann responded, get away from Artemis and helping the other girl up. Getting back up into the air, she started back to the residential area of the Cave. "Robin was supposed to watch Nightwing for the first part of the night, cause he has the concussion. He never woke me up last night."

The other two team members looked at each other and followed M'gann to Nightwing's room. Opening the door, all three were astonished with how untidy their pseudo-leader's room was. At least two separate costumes and sets of body armor were on the floor, as well as several pillows and a few batarangs on the floor and one in the wall. While the room had no windows or exits besides the door, and possibly the air vent but that was not necessarily a thought to our young heroes, there was no immediate sign of Robin in the room.

That was until Wally with the others behind him, walked towards the bed and noticed to heads at wierd angles on the bed. There was a sound of muffled laughter at the young heroes. Nightwing was laying with his head on Robin's back, holding his arm like a teddy bear, while Robin's hand was on Nightwing's head, fingers just curled enough to hold a small hand full.

"I guess this is why he never woke me up." M'gann's voice giggled through the other two's minds.

Artemis pulled out her phone as her thoughts went to the others. "Bet Nightwing pulled him in while he was trying to wake him." She snapped a photo of the sleeping duo, her phone making a shutter noise.

"Shit Artemis!" Wally spoke aloud as Nightwing started to move, cause Robin to start to wake up.

Robins eyes fluttered open, his hand getting a small handhold on Nightwings hair as he came around. The three young heroes were frozen, all poised to escape if need be. "What the hell Dick..." Robin spoke, letting go of Dick's hair and pushing him away. He was sitting up when he noticed Artemis was standing there, a rush of wind blowing her hair and laughter meaning that Wally ran from the room.

Artemis noticed she was alone, M'gann going into camouflage mode and fleeing seemed to explain the other female's absence as well, as sea-green eyes looked at her as Nightwing went flying off the bed. "Dammit Jay." He exclaimed as he hit the ground. He seemed to notice Artemis standing there as he picked himself up off the ground, legs trapped under the sheet of the bed. "Hello, Artemis." His blue eyes were playful as he ruffled his hair.

Artemis looked at the two boys with wide eyes. "Sorry 'Wing... Robin... M'gann said she was never woken up... and we were checking up on you two..." Shit, she was not expecting.. Well, whatever this was. Not that she thought it was anything but...

"This asshole thought it would be funny to pin me to the bed so I would stop waking him up." Robin supplied, standing on the bed and jumping over Nightwing to get his sunglasses from the chest of drawers against the adjacent wall. "Last time I care if he has a concussion, Dickie-bird here could go into a coma for all I care." A glare was sent to the older boy as he grabbed his own glasses from the bedside table.

Artemis knew that Nightwing's name was Dick, and by process of thought knew who Jason was, but did not comment on both boys habit of were something over their eyes when not in costume. The idea of a mask was soemthing she could understand, though she was sad to see both sets of bright eyes to disappear. "Yeah, Miss Martian was worried..." She started but was interrupted by Dick's voice.

"And Wally thought a picture would be the best idea given the situation" Dick added, moving to grab a shirt from a pile on the ground. "Need to get rid of that before he convinces half the Team..." He never finished the thought as he ran from the room to find his friend.

Artemis started to leave the room as well, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she was half startled by the fact that Robin was taller than her by at least two inches. "I know you took the picture." He said in a deadpan, eyes going to the photo that was still in her hand. "Dick's just still half awake to be an effective detective." Artemis opened her mouth, but Robin started to talk again. "Don't let him know and send me a copy. He'll never live this down, stupid Pretty Boy."

Artemis nodded, as Robin grinned at her. "He'll hate us both if he knows it still exists."

"He couldn't hate if he tried. Sour-puss will just mope and whine until someone gives in." Robin laughed, and Artemis decided she liked his laugh. Well, this laugh anyway. The half strangle laugh from the night when they had found Nightwing before came to mind. "Anyways, lets go watch the show. Bet Nightwing has K.F. pinned down as we speak."

Artemis chuckled as she pocketed her phone and they left the room. "I like you, kid."


End file.
